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Update: Got some work done on my dad's workshop, but no HT progress yet. We're about 5 sheets of GWB away from being done hanging then it is time for contractors. Hopefully in about a week or two we'll have a functional workshop and I can start working on the HT.

Update: I'm still working my way to the HT. Working on some other projects that got inserted at the front of my queue: namely a playground for the kids and my dad's workshop. That and boxes galore. Still haven't fully recovered from the move. I'd get through the work faster if they'd stop promoting me, I may just end up hiring a lot of this out. Anyway, stay tuned, the HT is still an active project.

Well, had my first meeting with the HVAC contractor and I think it went well. The guy seemed to be more knowledgeable than me, which is exactly what you want from a contractor. I now consider the project "officially underway". 5 years and I should be ready for paint!

The playground is mostly finished, and there's actually room in our garage for one car. I choose not to think about the bike, 2 baby strollers, and riding mower that are in the driveway.

And now, I've moved ALL the boxes out of the theater, swept it, moved in a couch, have money in an account, and have scheduled a HVAC consult...

Question - do I need deep wallboxes to accommodate the double-drywall? I went to put in my first wallbox and when I extended it out to make up for the thickness of the wallboard+osb, the nails for the wallboard were almost missing the studs.

Maybe I should just check my original post before asking questions. Man, it's been long enough to forget 50% of what I knew about my own project.

It looks like I was going to use Carlon adjustable zip boxes, but they don't seem to make a 4-gang adjustable box. Probably best since I already installed it. It's not a great fit, but hopefully it will do.

So, I got the first HVAC estimate. It ranged from $4580 to $7600. They suggested a 2 ton unit for single room (~400 sqft, 3 sides exterior brick, no windows, 10" wall, heavily insulated, 1 door). Why do I feel like they walked in my house and saw $$$?

When installing the OSB, I see that a 1/8" gap is required, assuming for moisture/temperature flex of the material. I was planning to put this up the same way I have GWB in the past, using 1/2 of each stud to screw the edge of the panel on. However, is there really any value in this? A lot of the labor that goes into this seems to be cutting the OSB panels so that they exactly match up with the studs. After the OSB is up, GWB will go up and it will be offset, so seams will not be on seams (GWB panels will be offset 50%, so seams will be nowhere near each other. Given that, shouldn't it be fine to just let the OSB seams float off of a stud? Seems like it would cut out a good deal of labor.

I've got a friend that still lives there, and he said it was a weird feeling driving around looking at empty concrete slabs, or homes reduced to rubble with the people that live there sitting in their front yard on lawn chairs because they just didn't know what else to do.

Anyway, I'm not sure I follow your question about the OSB. Are you asking if the edges of the OSB can be cantilevered off the studs? Also, I'm not sure if the 1/8" gap is necessary when using it in place of the first layer of drywall. like you, I assumed it was to allow for expansion and contraction, but it's a good thought. I wonder if butting the seams might cause problems with the walls "squeaking" during heavy bass? Hopefully someone can chime in with an answer.

With regard to the OSB, normally I'd cut the OSB panel so that the end of the panel gets nailed to a stud. With GWB going over the OSB, I'm not sure this is needed. So the end of the OSB may line up with a stud, but it may not. It probably still is needed though, and in lieu of advice to the contrary, this is what I plan on doing.

I had to use the handy dandy acronym finder http://www.acronymfinder.com/ to figure out what GWB was. After crossing these off the list...
-George Washington Bridge
-George Walker Bush
-Guys With Beards
-Ghetto White Boys
....I hit pay dirt with Gypsum Wall Board.

Have you completed all the rough in for your GE yet? Biggest trick to grafik eye installation, in my eye, is the use of an adequately large backing box. You want to search out a masonry electrical box of suitable size for your dimmer. [IMG ALT=""]http://www.avsforum.com/content/type/61/id/55123/width/350/height/700[/IMG map out where each circuit is going to land on the dimmer and route romex and low voltage into your masonry box to match. It gets pretty snug with a six circuit GE, especially the neutrals.

The basic room (bricks and sticks) were done by the general contractor that built the house. They ran 3 20A runs to the theater for "general use" and something special for the HVAC. I was going to allocate one of those 3 20A runs for lighting. As for rough-ins of electrical, this is pretty much the only thing to do. Everything else is either in the equipment closet, which is much further down in my to-do list, or in the columns/soffits. I wanted to minimize the number of holes in the soundproofing, so most all the electrical / lighting will be in soffits or columns built completely inside that shell (feeds into the soffit from the equipment closet then through soffit down columns).

I already have a mount box for the GE, was going to get a second for the junction box as suggested in the image in my last post. My GE is actually a 3104, not a 3106, so that should help.

The link to my sketchup model had stopped working. It looks like Filedropper is a great name for more than one reason, after a while it looks like they drop the file on the floor and stop serving it. I re-uploaded it and they gave me the same link. This is on the original post near the top, but here it is again for convenience:

I'm giving another go at reversing my room setup before I get tooooo far into construction. I've never loved the setup I came up with. It sacrifices room on the sides of seating to provide a hallway. But there are always hard decisions to make, and there was a significant financial motivation to put the door where it is, which only affords a very limited space for a stage if it is by the door.

The current "official" version of my floorplan looks like this:

I reworked this a bit tonight and came up with the following:

To give some context, you can probably identify the equipment rack rather easily. Immediately to the left of that is the door to the room. Ignore the pink, I haven't completely re-worked the stage, that's due to be removed.

My primary concerns are this.

1: The light switch. Obviously this needs to be moved. My two best options are in the screen wall, which I don't like, or in the equipment rack. The wall that got framed in is pretty much nothing but studs between the door and the equipment rack, so mounting it there is not an option. I don't honestly like either of these options, but they are all I have come up with. The screen wall is planned to be a very light wall primarily made of studs and fabric. The rack will be sturdy, but not sure I want all that power running through the rack (the light switch is a graphic eye 3104).

2: Clearance for the speakers. In order to give a small amount of clearance between the stage and door, I was only able to give a 1-2" clearance between the speakers and the back wall / screen wall. How much pain will this cause me? I think I can wire it up, but not sure if there are really good reasons they would need more clearance. It is planned to be an acoustically transparent screen.

I like the stage less. I like the light switch less. I think I like the overall room a lot more though.

The reworked layout seems to make a lot more sense to this novice. Assuming the front row is the priority, I'd rather walk in and out unimpeded when fewer than 4 people are using the room. This layout may also make placement of your left surround speaker a lot simpler. Or are they in the columns? In that case, you also have room to move those columns back a little to get a better placement for the rear row.

I'm a bit biased since I'm working with a similarly shaped space, though about half the size.

The speakers are in the columns. The columns store the speakers, electrical outlets, and low frequency sound dampening as needed. Thanks for weighing in Jason. I'm pretty much decided to go this route now. I designed the room about 3-5 years ago, it helps being older and wiser (putting the value of the room over individual "rules").

I reworked the stage a bit, moved the lighting controls, did final placement. The blue is the door to the room. I plan to do a 3.5" moulding around the door to match the rest of the house, but am open to ideas that will look good but reclaim this space. The speakers fit, but barely. Thoughts?